Photographic Collections

Flickr Commons

According to their website, the mission of Flickr Commons  is two-fold. They want to give the people of the world a glimpse into the hidden treasures of the world's public photographic archives and to show how their personal input and knowledge can enrich those collection records. Crowdsourcing is becoming more prevalent in digitized archival and photographic collections as a means of adding value to catalog records.  The idea of many hands make light the work allows objects that have spent years as victims of the backlog to become accessible and available for input.  More and more collections are adopting this modern form of knowledge production as a means of tackling backlogs and coping with small staffs and tight budgets.  The records are not perfect and not everyone is "on board" with tagging, but I believe it can be a great tool for institutions with overwhelming photographic collections that are in need of some information. 

Screen capture of Flickr Commons photo set, http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAox5kq

Screen capture of individual photo from set, http://flic.kr/p/cqeZfo

Screen capture of same photo in the National Archives' OPAC, http://research.archives.gov/description/523507

MoMA

The first thing I noticed about MoMA's interface is that directly above the image on the left side there is information that informs the on-line visitor that the actual photo is "not on view."  Personally, I think this is just as useful as telling a library patron that a book is out on loan.  As a museum, it's especially important to make researchers aware if something is on display or whether they need to contact the curatorial department for access to the photo. For the casual visitor, it may help plan a trip to the museum.  All around, it is helpful information and I'm happy that they include it.  

This made me curious about what is currently on view.  The on-line catalog allows you to filter your search very nicely. This is illustrated below.

This is how the results appear:

From here you can easily click on the record of your choice and access information on that specific collection photograph.  I think that the information included is well organized and informative.